Gamified Failure: How Productive Mistakes Enhance Students’ Metacognitive Awareness

Abstract

This study investigates how gamified failure, defined as structured and productive mistakes within game-based learning environments, enhances students’ metacognitive awareness. The primary objective is to analyze the role of failure in fostering learners’ abilities to plan, monitor, and evaluate their cognitive processes. A qualitative approach was employed using a case study design, selected for its capacity to provide an in-depth and contextualized understanding of learners’ experiences in real educational settings. The research was conducted in a private senior high school in West Java, Indonesia, chosen due to its implementation of gamified digital learning systems. The study involved twenty student participants and five key informants, including teachers and educational practitioners, selected purposively based on their direct engagement with gamified instruction. The findings reveal that iterative failure, supported by immediate feedback and non-punitive learning structures, significantly enhances reflective thinking, strategic adjustment, and conceptual understanding. Students demonstrated increased metacognitive awareness by actively evaluating their errors and refining learning strategies. The study recommends the intentional integration of structured failure within gamified environments to promote deeper learning and self-regulation, while future research is encouraged to explore broader contexts and longitudinal impacts.